Facts

DIVEST LA - FACT SHEET

From funding the DAPL to mortgage fraud, and discriminatory practices, a bullet-point breakdown supporting the divestment movement.

Our Mission:
· Step 1: Pass an ordinance to end the city’s financial relationship with Wells Fargo.
· Step 2: Amend the current Responsible Banking Ordinance (RBO) to include much stronger social and environmental criteria when considering banking contracts.

We the People can leverage our city’s financial resources to penalize corruption and reward financial institutions for socially and environmentally conscious business practices.

Seattle has recently made headway by successfully contracting to divest $3 billion from Wells Fargo, due to their many examples of corrupt business practices. No bank should be able to get away with fraud and corruption- we must make it a standard that to do business with Los Angeles, a bank must pass ethical muster as outlined by a strict Responsible Banking Ordinance.

By asserting this trend, Los Angeles can divest billions more and help spark a wave of similar motions across the nation. This will result in a new era where corrupt banking and funding of fossil fuels simply won’t pay off for financial institutions anymore- as they won’t be able to secure billions in city contracts if they do.

Divestment Target: All of the city's operating account currently with Wells Fargo including: assets, investments, deposits, and pension funds.

Divestment Goal: We want LA City Council to amend the Responsible Banking Ordinance and pass this ordinance immediately. We want the city to sever ties with Wells Fargo at the end of the their current 2017 contract.

Why is it critical that the City of Los Angeles divest from Wells Fargo?

Wells Fargo has a long history of banking, malpractice, anti-consumer, and anti-environmental practices. It has been proven that we cannot wait idly for top-down leadership in Washington to effectively take on environmental destruction and the power of the big banks. That’s why this People Power movement will use the levers of city government to save our planet and encourage an ethical economy.

Trump has signed two executive orders that would advance construction of Keystone XL and DAPL, two destructive pipelines that would pose a dangerous threat to human health and the environment.

If we let our city do business with any banks that invest in environmentally destructive projects, or involved in corruption, the responsibility for its consequences lie on us! It is our responsibility then to demand the highest ethical standards of our city so that we may no longer be complicit.

Wells Fargo is one of the largest funders of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Bankrolled DAPL with $120 million in a $2.5 billion credit agreement funding the pipeline project. A violation of tribal and human rights.[1]

Long history of discrimination against low-income consumers and communities of color. Wells Fargo paid $175M for discrimination probe.[2]

Record of aggressive foreclosures and high-risk predatory loans.[3]

Morally bankrupt lending practices. Wells Fargo is a notorious bankroller for the private prison industry and provides over $1.2 billion in capital for these prisons.[4}

Fraudulent banking practices. To boost its own stock price, bank’s top managers pressured low-level employees to secretly create more than two million unauthorized checking and credit-card accounts. Wells Fargo paid $185 Million in restitution to Los Angeles City/County.[5]